HENRY IV, emperor of Germany: b. 11 Nov. 1050; d. Liege, 7 Aug. 1106. He was the son of Henry III. He was crowned at Aix-la Chapelle in 1054. His reign was from the first disturbed by contests with his vassals. The Saxons joined with the inhabitants of Thurin gia, drove Henry from Saxony (1073), and de stroyed many of the castles which he had built to overawe the inhabitants. But some churches having been destroyed by the populace, Henry accused the Saxons to the Pope of sacrilege and thus gave him an opportunity to interfere as umpire. The Saxons offered to make every satisfaction; but Henry suddenly invaded their territory with a powerful army, and attacked them 9 June 1075, at Hohenburg, on the Un strut, where they suffered a total defeat. He imprisoned nobles and ecclesiastics, and aroused the attention of the papacy. Gregory VII (Hildebrand), who had been elevated to the papal chair some years before without the con sent of the imperial court, eagerly seized this opportunity to challenge Henry's usurpation of the power of investing bishops with the spirit ual insignia of office, and in December 1075 presented to the king a list of charges and de manded proofs of obedience to the Church. Henry then' instigated the bishops, assembled by his order at Worms, to renounce their obe dience to the Pope (24 Jan. 1076). Gregory, however, pronounced the sentence of excommu nication against him (22 Feb.), and absolved his subjects from their allegiance, and Henry soon found himself deserted. In this state of affairs he was obliged to go to Italy and make his submission to the Pope. He found Greg ory at Canossa, not far from Reggio, a strong castle belonging to Matilda, countess of Tus cany, Whither he had retired for security.
Three days successively, in the depth of win ter, Henry appeared in a penitential dress in the court of the castle, before the intercession of Matilda obtained for him an audience of the Pope (28 Jan. 1077), when he was released from the sentence of excommunication only upon submitting to the most humiliating condi tions. Some of the Italian princes, who had long been dissatisfied with Gregory and were desirous of deposing him, gathered round Henry, who was not disposed to fulfil the hard conditions imposed upon him, and offered him their assistance. The German princes, how ever, at the instigation of the Pope, assembled at Forchheim in 1077, and elected Rudolf, Duke of Swabia, king. Henry hastened back to Ger many and overcame his rival, who lost his life in battle at Merseburg in 1080. Gregory again excommunicated Henry; but at the councils of Brixen and Mainz in 1080, the Pope was de clared deposed by the German bishops as a heretic and a sorcerer, and Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, set up in his place, with the title of Clement III. In 1081 Henry marched into Italy to take vengeance on Gregory, and ap peared at Easter before Rome. He was not able in that year, however, to pursue the siege of the city, which did not fall into his hands till 1084. He was forced by a conspiracy of the majority of the nobles, led by his son, Henry V, to abdicate at Ingelheim 31 Dec. 1105. Consult von Kronan, Jahrbiicher des deutschen Reiches unter Heinrich IV and Heinrich V) (1890-1909).